Natalie Jane Prior was born in Brisbane, Australia, in November, 1963, a momentous month in which President Kennedy was shot, C.S. Lewis died, and Doctor Who started on British television. Her father cherished vain hopes that she would grow up to take over his engineering business, but at a tender age she apparently told him that she did not want to be "a dumb old engineer", and decided that she wanted to be a writer instead. She has never seriously wanted to be anything else, and considers herself extremely blessed that she has been able to turn her childhood dream into a reality.

Natalie is the author of numerous books for children and young adults. Her work includes the classic picture book The Paw and its sequels (illustrated by Terry Denton), and the internationally successful fantasy series Lily Quench, which has well over half a million copies in print, and which was broadcast on BBC Radio in 2006. Natalie most recent junior fiction series is The Minivers, published by Penguin Australia and Marion Lloyd Books (Scholastic UK).

Natalie's books have won the Aurealis Award (for fantasy and science fiction), the Davitt Awards (for crime writing), have been Honour, shortlisted and Notable Books in the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards, and have been been shortlisted for numerous children's choice awards. She lives in suburban Brisbane with her husband, young daughter and two long-haired red miniature dachshunds called Rupert and Jasmine.